Man Who Sold Gun Used in Synagogue Standoff Gets Nearly 8 Years in Prison
Daniel Lippman, a 20-year-old from New Jersey, was serving a 3-year sentence for criminal weapons possession when he sold a gun to Aaron Yoneda, the driver of a car that was involved in a crash that led to the killing of nine innocent people at a Jewish community center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Instead of a prison term for his part in the crime, Lippman was tried and convicted in the first-degree murder of one Jewish victim and sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Because of a loophole in the laws making possession of guns a crime in the first degree, the state of New Jersey decided not to prosecute Daniel Lippman. Now, he will serve almost eight years behind bars.
What did the jury conclude?
What did the jury conclude?
The jury found that Lippman did not intend to kill. And he did not intend to use the gun as part of the drive-by shooting that killed nine people, instead he wanted to use the gun to stop the car.
That’s a different charge than his conviction on second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
What about the gun?
The gun was Lippman’s and he kept it in his bedroom. He wanted a.22 caliber pistol for hunting. He had about three weeks to plan how he was going to use the gun.
Lippman was the first person prosecuted after an extensive investigation by the FBI that revealed a nationwide wave of anti-Semitic hatred in the United States. The Bureau’s investigation revealed that at least four New Jersey synagogues had experienced a surge in anti-Semitic threats against worshippers and the Jewish community.
What about the drive-by shooting?
The investigation revealed that the car that was traveling in the direction of the synagogue had been “pulled over and the driver of the vehicle who had been shot a total of five times, and was